Casting apparatus.



PATENTED SEPT. 17, 1907;

E. A.. WBIMER. CASTING APPARATUS.

APPLIOATION FILED JUNE 17,1907.

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No. 866,608. PATENTED SEPT. 17, 1907.

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PATENTED SEPT. 17, 1907.

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No. 866,608. PA TENTED SEPT. 17, 1907.

E. A. WEIMER. CASTING. APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 17,1907.

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No. 666,606. PATENTED SEPT. 17, 1907.

5. A. WEIMER.

CASTING APPARATUS. APPLICATION FILED JUNE 17.1907.

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EDGAR A. WEIMER, OF LEBANON, PENNSYLVANIA.

CASTING APPARATUS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 17, 1907.

Original application filed February 21, 1907, Serial No. 358,647. Divided and this application filed June 1'7, 1907. Serial N0- 379,354.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDGAR A. WEIMER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Lebanon, in the county of Lebanon and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Casting Apparatus; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My present invention relates to machinery for the continuous casting of pig metal and delivering the same, and has especial reference to means for conveying the pigs from the molds, cooling the pigs, and delivering the pigs upon cars or other receptacles.

The invention has for its object economy in time and labor, and preventing injury to the pigs in cooling, and consists in certain improvements which will be fully disclosed in the following specification and claims.

This application is a division of my application 358,647, filed February 21st,1907 for castingapparatus.

In the accompanying drawings,.which form part of this specificationz-Figures 1 and 2 represent side elevations of part of a casting apparatus embodying my invention, the mold-carrier and the pig-conveyer being indicated by dotted lines. Fig. 3 a side elevation on an enlarged scale representing the discharge end of the mold-carrier section and the receiving end of the pig-conveyer section, parts of the mold-carrier and the pig-conveyer, being shown in position. Fig. 4 an enlarged end view, partly in section of the discharge end of the mold-carrier, showing the chute for conducting the pigs to the pig conveyer. Fig. 5 a top plan view of a section of the pig-conveyer, the bottom or pig supporting plates being removed and the track omitted. Fig. 6 an end view of a section of the pigconveyer and its supporting track. Fig. 7 a plan view of one of the bottom or pig supporting-plates detached. Fig. 8 a transverse section of the same, and Fig. 9 an enlarged side view of the discharge end of the pig-conveyer structure, the conveyer being omitted.

Reference being had to the drawings and the designating characters thereon, the numeral 1 indicates the molds supported on their carriers 2, the construction and operation of which are fully disclosed in the parent application to which reference has been made; The molds strike against projections 4 on a buffer 5 and dislodge the pigs irom the molds, when they fall upon an inclined grating 6, from which they gravitate over a chute '7 and are discharged upon the pig-conveyer.

The endless flexible pig-conveyer is constructed in like manner as the mold carrier with the exception that the transverse rod on which the molds are pivoted is omitted.

8, 9, indicate the links connected to the axles 1O supporting the wheels 11 and are provided with washers, not shown, between the overlapping ends of the links and between the ends of the hubs of the wheels and the inner link. Each inner link is provided with a horizontal flange 12 to which a corrugated plate or bottom 13 is secured by bolts. The wheels 11 engage rails on a track 14 and the pig-conveyer travels over drums or sprocket-wheels 15, one at each end'of the conveyer, propelled by a suitable motor 16 and suitable gearing, such as 17 and 18, which may be connected as shown in Fig. 2 or as shown in Fig. 9, or in any other approved manner. In the latter form, pinions 19, 20, are interposed. The pigs are discharged from the conveyer as the latter passes over the drum 15 at the outer end of the conveyer and fall upon a grating 21 from which they gravitate to a chute 22 and are discharged from the chute into a car or other receptacle, not shown. The chute is raised and lowered by a Windlass 23 and a wire rope 24 passing over a sheave 25.

26 indicates baths or tanks for the pigs, inclined longitudinally toward the center of the tank to cause any deposit from the pigs to gravitate to the lowest point in the tank, from which they are discharged through an opening 27 in the side of the tank, provided with a suitable valve, not shown.

28 indicates a pipe, leading to a' suitable source of supply, not shown, provided with ejectors or nozzles 29 for cooling the pigs by blasts of air, or water projected against the pigs while in transit.

In the practical operation of casting machines, a large proportion of the pigs are broken by immersing them in water, due to the fact that the pigs lie on flat conveyer plates. The film space between the pigs and the plates being filled with steam or gas, will not allow the water to enter and cool the pig on all sides, and as a result, unequal contraction of the pigs takes place, breaking them into pieces. Miniature explosions also occur under the pigs, which have a tendency to float the pigs. This floating or kicking of the pigs is detrimental to the life or durability of the conveyer, as the pigs jam against each other to the injury of the conveyer. To overcome this difficulty the corrugated plates 13 have been employed, on which the pigs are supported on the crowns of the corrugations, thus allowing free circulation of the water or air as the case may be around the pig. Furthermore, the corrugated plates do not bend as readily as flat plates, and by keeping their shape the conveyer will be kept in alinement and its life prolonged.

It is obvious that the pig-supporting plate may be made of parallel bars of metal, or that a flat plate may be perforated or indented to allow the water access to the lower side of the pigs, without departing from the spirit of my invention.

In iron high in silica and containing a certain percentage of sulfur, the pigs in passing through water disintegrate and are reduced in some instances to granules. To avoid this, it is my purpose to cool the pigs by the use of finely divided sprays of Water supplied through pipe 28 and ejectors or nozzles 29 from the time the pigs leave the molds until they are discharged from the pig-conveyer. 01' water may be sprayed by the use of ejeetors operated by air pressure. The cooling effect of the reexpansion of the air upon the Water reduces the temperature of the Water, and thereby cools the pigs with a greatly reduced expenditure of Water, as the water is used over repeatedly.

It is obvious that changes may be made in details of construction, Without departing from the spirit of my invention.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim is 1. In a casting apparatus, a mold carrier, a pig conveyer adjacent to the mold carrier, means for dislodging pigs from the molds, means for conducting the pigs to the pig conveyer, means for cooling the pigs while in transit, and means for delivering the pigs at the discharge end of the pig conveyer.

2. In a casting apparatus, a pig convcyer provided with means for admitting a cooling medium to the underside of the pigs as they lie on the conveyer, means for dis charging pigs upon the conveyer at one end thereof, means for supplying a cooling medium to the pigs in transit, and means for delivering the pigs at the discharge end of the pig conveyer.

3. In a casting apparatus, a mold carrier, bulfers in the path of the molds for dislodging pigs from the molds, a pig conveyer, means for conducting the pigs from the molds to the pig conveyor, and a tank having a bottom oppositely inclined from its ends to the center thereof and provided with a discharge at the lowest part of the bottom.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature, in presence of tWo witnesses.

EDGAR A. WEIMER.

Witnesses E. 1. LIGHT, JOHN E. WILLs. 

